Award is a family affair

Jim and Joe Parlanti are looking forward to sharing the Norwalk Sports Person of the Year award they will receive tonight from the Fairfield County Sports Commission.

The local brothers will be recognized during the seventh annual Sports Night at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich for their hard work and effort to bring the Babe Ruth 13-year-old New England Regional tournament to Norwalk this summer. The event begins at 6 p.m.

But ask either one of them and they will tell you -- in fact, they insist -- they're really sharing this award with quite a few more people than just themselves.

"We're very happy, excited and honored to be getting this award," the 50-year-old Jim Parlanti, who's two years older than his brother, said. "But, you know, it's really a compliment to the entire Babe Ruth program. I always call it the Norwalk Family, the Norwalk Babe Ruth Family, and we're going to accept this award on behalf of the entire family."

"We're going to accept that award for all the people who have been involved with Babe Ruth baseball in Norwalk for the last 10, 15 years," Joe Parlanti agreed. "Guys like Nick Doria, Mark Kohler, Gerald Anastasia, Walt Czarneski. I can go down a list of guys who put the time and effort into the Babe Ruth League and what it took for Norwalk to be recognized as a great baseball town. We're just following their footsteps."

Yes, there are a lot of people in the Norwalk Athletic Association Babe Ruth League that deserve credit. But it was Jim and Joe Parlanti who had the vision and determination to bring the first regional baseball tournament to the city of Norwalk.

That vision began more than two years ago, in the summer of 2009, which also turned out to be a very busy summer for the Parlanti Brothers. They were in their fifth and final year as administrators in the Norwalk Cal Ripken League, and their first year in Babe Ruth; Jim as president and Joe as vice president.

Because Cal Ripken is also part of Babe Ruth, the transition was relatively seamless.

That summer saw Norwalk play host to three major tournaments: The Cal Ripken 11-year-old state tournament at Veterans Park, and the Babe Ruth 14-year-old state tournament and 15-year-old district tourney at Brien McMahon.

"It was definitely a busy summer," Joe said with a laugh.

He had an added interest since his oldest son, Michael, was playing on the 14-year-old all-star team and his younger son, Matt, was on the 11-year-old squad.

Both the Norwalk 14s and 15s won the state championship and advanced to their New England Regional in Rhode Island, the 14s in Warwick, R.I., and the 15s in nearby Providence. With the two tournaments just a few miles apart, Joe and Jim Parlanti attended every game unless there was a conflict.

"That's where the idea of Norwalk hosting a regional first popped in my head," Jim said. "No disrespect to the people in Rhode Island, but there was no thrill at those regional tournaments. No opening ceremonies, no picnic, no dinner, nothing for the kids. They had a nice stadium. That's the one thing they had, with a nice press box and concession stand. But they lacked everything else."

And that's when Jim Parlanti realized Norwalk could do better.

"I said to Joe 'I'm gonna do it.' He said 'What are you talking about?' And I told him 'I want to host a regional tournament.'

"Joe looked at me and said 'Are you crazy?' I said 'Watch me.' "

Thus began the process of bring the Babe Ruth 13-year-old New England Regional to Norwalk in the summer of 2011.

Why 2011?

"We bid on that one for a couple of reasons," Jim explained. "In 2009, our 11-year-old Cal Ripkens hosted the state tournament, and the 11 year-olds in Little League and Cranbury were a good group, too. So we knew we'd be very good that year. Of course, we didn't know it then, but in 2010 the Ripken 12 year-olds went to the World Series."

The first thing they did was contact the Connecticut Babe Ruth state commissioner, who also happened to live in Norwalk.

"We went to Fred Bondi and asked him, 'What do we got to do?'," Jim said. "He told us and we wrote letters and filled out all the necessary documents. Fred brought it all up to the New England Regional meeting and told them we wanted to bid for the 2011 regional. We also took pictures of the field and sent them our resume. They saw that we had hosted other tournaments before and we showed what we could do."

The selection committee was obviously very impressed.

"They looked it over and they gave it us," Jim said. "In fact, at the time, they still didn't have a host for the 2010 Regional and asked us if we wanted to take that one, too. But we said no, we wanted to do it the right way and we knew we needed the full year and a half of planning."

The Parlantis and the rest of their committee took advantage of every second and the result was a first-class event which featured seven state champions plus the host team.

"Our ultimate mission and goal of the tournament was to make sure every kid there had a great experience," Joe Parlanti said. "Every team coming to Norwalk was a state champion and we wanted to make sure that 10 years from now they all remember Norwalk as the best regional tournament they played in. I think we came real close."

For him, it all went back to 2009 and the regional tournament in Rhode Island.

"My son Michael didn't have a great experience when he played in his regional tournament," Joe said. "Not only him, but every boy from Norwalk. That was their first regional and it's kind of a shame. We didn't want that to happen here.

"That's what drove us. To give them best tournament and experience possible."

It's been more than two months since the 2011 Babe Ruth New England Regional tournament concluded, but for Joe and Jim Parlanti, the journey culminates tonight when they're honored as the Norwalk co-Sports Person of the Year.

"A lot of people put a lot of work in, not just us," Jim Parlanti said. "People like Mike Newcombe, Dave Stein, Dave Evans, Tom Beaumont. Those gentlemen really stepped up and helped the Norwalk Babe Ruth program tremendously.

"You're only as good as the people around you and we had a great staff," he concluded. "It's all about team play, not only on the field but in life."

Which is why they plan to share this award with a lot of other people in Norwalk.